strength see UNION is strength.strengthen see as the DAY lengthens, so the cold strengthens.STRETCH your arm no further than your sleeve will reachDo not spend more than you can afford. Similar to CUT your coat according to your cloth.1541 M. COVERDALE tr. H. Bullinger’s Christian State of Matrimony xix. Strech
out thine arme no farther then thy sleve wyll retche. 1639 J. CLARKE Parœmiologia
Anglo-Latina 211 Stretch your arme no further than your sleeve will reach. 1721 J.
KELLY Scottish Proverbs 277 Put your Hand no farther than your Sleeve will reach. That
is, spend no more than your Estate will bear. 1881 W. WESTALL Old Factory II. ii. It
would leave me short of working capital, and.. I mustn’t stretch my arm further than
th’coat-sleeve will reach. circumstances; poverty; prudenceEveryone STRETCHES his legs according to the length of his coverleta 1300 WALTER OF HENLEY Husbandry (1890) 4 Wo that stretchet fortherre than
his wytel [blanket] wyle reche, in the straue [straw] his fet he mot streche. 1550 W.
HARRYS Market D5V Then must many a man.. stretche out his legges accor-dynge to the
length of his coverlet. 1640 G. HERBERT Outlandish Proverbs no. 147 Everyone
stretcheth his legges according to his coverlet. 1897 ‘H. S. MERRIMAN’ In Kedar’s
Tents iv. ‘The English.. travel for pleasure.’.. ‘Every one stretches his legs according to
the length of his coverlet,’ he said. circumstances; prudenceSTRIKE while the iron is hotA proverb originally alluding to the blacksmith’s art. Cf. late 13th-cent. Fr. len doit batre
le fer tandis cum il est chauz, one must strike the iron while it is hot.
c 1386 CHAUCER Tale of Melibee 1.1035 Whil that iren is hoot, men sholden
smyte. 1546 J. HEYWOOD Dialogue of Proverbs I. iii. A4 And one good lesson to this
purpose I pyke [pick] From the smiths forge, whan thyron is hote stryke. 1576 G. PETTIE
Petit Palace 181 I think it wisdome to strike while the iron is hot. 1682 BUNYAN Holy
War 18 Finding.. the affections of the people warmly inclining to him, he, as thinking